By the Numbers: Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center

Calling all superheroes, cosplayers, self-proclaimed nerds, comic-book fans and pop-culture lovers: your event of the year is here!

The 48th annual "Comic-Con International: San Diego" is taking over the San Diego Convention Center this week. An estimated 130,000 attendees will come to our city and facility to experience the one-of-a-kind event and watch celebrity panels, show off elaborate costumes and peruse comic books at the internationally recognized celebration of pop culture.

We took some time to collect fun facts about the event. First, let's look at the estimated economic impact of this year's event. Comic-Con generates the most regional impact of any event all year: an estimated $143.1 million, with $3.1 million in hotel and sales tax revenue going directly to the City of San Diego's general fund. Attendee will spend about $84.7 million throughout the destination during their stay.

It takes a lot of superhero effort to make the event come to life. And even though you can’t see what’s happening on the inside before the exhibit hall doors open, the convention center and its staff are buzzing with activity a week before the show starts and throughout the four-day convention. Last year alone, it's estimated that it took more than 30,000 labor hours to set everything from the exhibit floor, to Hall H and the meeting rooms.

There are monster-sized appetites on the inside of the exhibit halls throughout Comic-Con International, but our in-house caterer Centerplate swoops in to feed them! Just how much food is consumed? Take a look at this graphic. Our favorite food fact has to be this one: if you laid all those hot dogs sold last year end to end, you'd wind up with a length nine times as long as the USS Midway!

Our community benefits in other ways during the show as well. We are environmental superheroes by recycling 100 percent of all cardboard boxes through our two balers located on site. This is in partnership with Waste Management who then transports that cardboard offsite with natural-gas fueled trucks. Here's a fun fact: 50 tons of cardboard was recycled last year from Comic-Con alone. That's equal to eight times the weight of the famous Gaslamp Quarter archway that hangs above Fifth Avenue!